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United States Patent and Trademark Office

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
I nihil Stall-, l'atint and Trademark Office

Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS

APPLICATION NO.

FILING DATE

FIRST NAMED INVENTOR

ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.

10/803,938

03/19/200-1

Akio Urabe

22850 7590 12/29/2008

OBLON, SPIVAK, MCCLELLAND MAIER & NEUSTADT, P.C.
1940 DUKE STREET
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22314

PARK, CHAN S

PAPER NUMBER

NOTIFICATION DATE | DELIVERY MODE
12/29/2008 ELECTRONIC

Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.

The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.

Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):

palcnldockcKo'oblon.coni
oblonpat@oblon.com
j gardner @ oblon. com

PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

l/ffflrC? nVrliUli Otfff Iff ids y

Application No.

10/803,938

Applicant(s)

URABE, AKIO

Examiner

CHAN S. PARK

Art Unit

2625

- The MAILING DATE of this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address —
Period for Reply

A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE 3 MONTH(S) OR THIRTY (30) DAYS,
WHICHEVER IS LONGER, FROM THE MAILING DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.

- Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1 .136(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed
after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- If NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 133).
Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any
earned patent term adjustment. See 37 CFR 1 .704(b).

Status

1 )KI Responsive to communication(s) filed on amendment filed on 10/12/08 .
2a )□ This action is FINAL. 2b)^ This action is non-final.

3) D Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is

closed in accordance with the practice under Ex parte Quayle, 1935 CD. 11, 453 O.G. 213.

Disposition of Claims

4) ^ Claim(s) 1-17,19 and 20 is/are pending in the application.

4a) Of the above claim(s) is/are withdrawn from consideration.

5) D Claim(s) is/are allowed.

6) E2 Claim(s) 1.2.4-12.14-17.19 and 20 is/are rejected.

7) |KI Claim(s) 3 and 13 is/are objected to.

8) D Claim(s) are subject to restriction and/or election requirement.

Application Papers

9) Q The specification is objected to by the Examiner.

10) D The drawing(s) filed on is/are: a)D accepted or b)D objected to by the Examiner.

Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the correction is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121(d).

1 1) D The oath or declaration is objected to by the Examiner. Note the attached Office Action or form PTO-152.

Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119

12) D Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or (f).
a)D All b)D Some * c)D None of:

1 .□ Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.

20 Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No. .

3.Q Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage
application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
* See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.

Attach ment(s)

1) D Notice of References Cited (PTO-892) 4) □ Interview Summary (PTO-41 3)

2) □ Notice of Draftsperson's Patent Drawing Review (PTO-948) Paper No(s)/Mail Date. .

3) □ Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO/SB/08) 5 ) □ Notice of Informal Patent Application

Paper No(s)/Mail Date . 6) □ Other: .

PTOL-T26 d (Rev e 08-06r

Office Action Summary

Part of Paper No./Mail Date 20081220

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Art Unit: 2625

DETAILED ACTION

Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114

1 . A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set
forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this
application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set
forth in 37 CFR 1 .17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action
has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on
10/21/08 has been entered.

Response to Arguments

2. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-17, 19 and 20 have been
considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.

3. Furthermore, Applicant's arguments filed 1 0/21/08 have been fully considered but
they are not persuasive.

In response to applicant's argument regarding claims 1, 7 and 16, wherein on
pages 11-13, the applicant explains how the current invention differs from the teachings
of lida and Simpson. Particularly, the applicant states that "the client side [of lida] must
always initiate the communication . Specifically, in lida, when the facsimile apparatus
sends data to the client apparatus, the client apparatus must necessarily have
previously requested the data to have been sent ". Furthermore, the applicant states
that the teaching of Simpson teaches away from the use of a firewall configured to

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Art Unit: 2625

control data transmission between the first and second computer network because
"Simpson inhibits access from the external devices to the PC, as described in
paragraph [0072]." The examiner agrees with applicant, in that the process performed
by the current invention is different than what lida and Simpson teach. However, this
difference is not apparent in the current claim wording. The claims do not recite
whether any communication is initiated by the image processing apparatus. For
example, the claims recite a transmitting unit for transmitting the report data to the
managing apparatus. However, the claims are completely silent as to when, under what
condition, the report data is transmitted to the managing apparatus. Therefore, it is
respectfully noted that the applicant's argument is based on a feature that is not in the
current claim wording.

Furthermore, it recites a limitation of "the reply data being in reply to an access to
the managing apparatus". The claims do not clearly state if the transmission of the
report data is based on or in response to this reply data or not . The examiner notes that
these two events can be construed as independent from each other.
4. Therefore, the rejection of claims 1 , 7 and 16, as cited in the Office Action under
35 U.S.C. § 103(a), is maintained and repeated in this Office Action.

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Claim Rejections - 35 USC §112

The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:

The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly
claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.

5. Claims 1, 2, 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph, as
being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter
which applicant regards as the invention.

Claims 1, 7 and 16 recite the limitation "acknowledgement data including
reception of the report data ". It is unclear if the acknowledgement data includes the
received report data or an indicator that indicates that the report data has been
received. Clarification is respectfully requested from the Specification.

Claim 2 recites the limitation "reply data sent by the managing apparatus". It is
unclear if this reply data is same as the "reply data" recited in claim 1 .

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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103

The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all
obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:

(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set
forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and
the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the
invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains.
Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.

6. Claims 1-2, 4, 7, 10, 15-17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as
being unpatentable over lida U.S. Patent No. 6,785,023 in view of Simpson et al. U.S.
Patent Application Publication No. 2002/016559 (hereinafter Simpson).

With respect to claim 1, lida discloses an image processing apparatus
management system (network system in fig. 3 & col. 4, lines 11-18) comprising:

an image processing apparatus communicably linked to a first computer network
and having a printing function (network facsimile 201),

a managing apparatus communicably linked to a second computer network and
configured to manage the image processing apparatus (client machine 202);

a network link (fig. 1 ) configured to control data transmission between the first
computer network and the second computer network, the network link configured to
allow reply data sent by the managing apparatus in the second computer network to
reach the image processing apparatus in the first computer network (sending user
specified update time upon receiving the HTML status file in ST403-ST406 of fig. 5 &
col. 8, lines 38-43), the reply data being in reply to an access to the managing
apparatus from the image processing apparatus using at least one of a predetermined
protocol having an immediacy (note that the HTTP of lida is interpreted as the

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predetermined protocols having an immediacy since HTTP protocol allows immediate
access to the web in the WWW browser operation); wherein

the image processing apparatus has a determining unit configured to determine
whether an aspect of the image processing apparatus is in at least one of a
predetermined aspect (a status information generating section for generating the status
HTML file when the apparatus is in idling, operating, and error states in col. 5, lines 4-
14);

a generating unit configured to generate report data including information
concerning the image processing apparatus when the determining unit determines that
the aspect of the image processing apparatus is in the predetermined aspect (a status
information generating section for generating the status HTML file when the apparatus
is in idling, operating, and error states in col. 5, lines 4-14); and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the report data to the managing
apparatus via the network link using the at least one of the predetermined protocol
having an immediacy (col. 5, lines, lines 54-67) wherein

the managing apparatus, when receiving the report data from the image
processing apparatus, is further configured to generate acknowledgement data
including reception of the report data (upon receiving the HTML status file, it generates
the homepage data for display in S405 in fig. 5), and to transmit the acknowledgement
data including reception of the report data to the image processing apparatus via the
firewall (user specified desired update time in col. 8, lines 38-43).

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lida, however, does not explicitly disclose that the image processing apparatus is
connected to the computer network via a firewall that allows data transmitted using
predetermined protocols to pass through.

Simpson, the same field of endeavor the HTTP network communication between
a client computer (704) and a network printing device (printer 710 in fig. 9), discloses
the HTTP network communication, wherein a client computer (704) can communicate
with the network printing device 710 via a firewall (paragraph 73).

Moreover, referring to paragraph 46 of Simpson, the reference describes that the
communication link having the firewall represents a plurality of networks including
Internet and LAN (paragraph 122).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the network of lida to include the firewall between the network facsimile
201 and client machine 202 for allowing the data transmission using HTTP as taught by
Simpson.

The suggestion/motivation for modifying the network of lida would have been to
filter out unwanted communication packets in conventional manner (paragraph 72 of
Simpson).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine lida with Simpson to obtain
the invention as specified in claim 1 .

With respect to claim 2, lida discloses the image processing apparatus
management system, wherein the network allows reply data (user specified desired
update time in col. 8, lines 38-43) sent by the managing apparatus in response to the

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report data, to pass through and reach the image processing apparatus (HTTP
protocols for exchanging the HTML file in col. 3, lines 56-59 & col. 4, lines 23-26).

Again, as noted above in claim 1 , lida does not explicitly disclose that the image
processing apparatus is connected to the computer network via a firewall that allows
data transmitted using predetermined protocols to pass through.

Simpson, the same field of endeavor the HTTP network communication between
a client computer (704) and a network printing device (printer 710 in fig. 9), discloses
the HTTP network communication, wherein the client computer (704) can communicate
with the network printing device 710 via a firewall (paragraph 73).

The suggestion/motivation for modifying the network of lida would have been to
filter out unwanted communication packets in conventional manner (paragraph 72 of
Simpson).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine lida with Simpson to obtain
the invention as specified in claim 2.

With respect to claim 4, lida discloses the image processing apparatus
management system according to claim 1, wherein the protocol having the immediacy is
hypertext transfer protocol (Again, the HTTP of lida (col. 3, lines 56-59 & col. 4, lines

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23-26) is interpreted as the predetermined protocols having an immediacy since HTTP
protocol allows immediate access to the web in the WWW browser operation).

With respect to claim 7, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 ,
are applicable.

With respect to claim 10, lida discloses the image processing apparatus, further
comprising:

an abnormal condition detecting unit that detects an occurrence or a possibility of
occurrence of an abnormal condition in the image processing apparatus (detecting error
such as jam and lack of toner at the printer in col. 5, lines 8-12), wherein

if the occurrence or the possibility of occurrence of the abnormal condition is
detected, the report generating/transmitting unit generates the report data by including
therein, information about the abnormal condition (generating the HTML status file
incorporating the detected error information in col. 5, lines 12-14).

With respect to claim 15, lida discloses the image processing apparatus,
wherein the protocol having the immediacy is hypertext transfer protocol (Again, the
HTTP of lida (col. 3, lines 56-59 & col. 4, lines 23-26) is interpreted as the
predetermined protocols having an immediacy since HTTP protocol allows immediate
access to the web in the WWW browser operation).

With respect to claim 16, lida teaches a method in which a managing
apparatus manages an image processing apparatus (network facsimile 201), the
managing apparatus (client machine 202) and the image processing apparatus

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communicably linked to a second computer network and a first computer network,
respectively, and the image processing apparatus communicably linked to the
managing apparatus via a network link that allows data transmitted using predetermined
protocols to pass through, wherein at least one of the predetermined protocols has an
immediacy (the HTTP of lida (col. 3, lines 56-59 & col. 4, lines 23-26) is interpreted as
the predetermined protocols having an immediacy since HTTP protocol allows
immediate access to the web in the WWW browser operation), comprising:

determining whether an aspect of the image processing apparatus is in at least
one of a predetermined aspect using a determination unit in the image processing
apparatus (a status information generating section for generating the status HTML file
when the apparatus is in idling, operating, and error states in col. 5, lines 4-14);

transmitting report data including when the aspect of the image processing
apparatus is in a predetermined aspect from the image processing apparatus to the
managing apparatus via the network link using the at least one of the predetermined
protocols having the immediacy (col. 5, lines, lines 54-67);

receiving report data from the image processing apparatus sent through the first
and second computer networks and the network link using the at least one of the
predetermined protocols having the immediacy at the managing apparatus outputting
contents of the report data received by the managing apparatus (a status information
generating section for generating the status HTML file when the apparatus is in idling,
operating, and error states in col. 5, lines 4-14);

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generating and sending reply data (user specified desired update time in col. 8,
lines 38-43) from the managing apparatus to the image processing apparatus via the
network link, in response to the report data received by the image processing apparatus
(HTTP protocols for exchanging the HTML file in col. 3, lines 56-59 & col. 4, lines 23-
26); and

allowing the reply data sent through the network link to reach the image
processing apparatus (fig. 5), wherein

Moreover, referring to paragraph 46 of Simpson, the reference describes that the
communication link having the firewall represents a plurality of networks including
Internet and LAN (paragraph 122).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the network of lida to include the firewall between the network facsimile

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201 and client machine 202 for allowing the data transmission using HTTP as taught by
Simpson.

The suggestion/motivation for modifying the network of lida would have been to
filter out unwanted communication packets in conventional manner (paragraph 72 of
Simpson).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine lida with Simpson to obtain
the invention as specified in claim 16.

With respect to claim 17, lida teaches the method according to claim 16,
wherein the protocol having the immediacy is hypertext transfer protocol (Again, the
HTTP of lida (col. 3, lines 56-59 & col. 4, lines 23-26) is interpreted as the
predetermined protocols having an immediacy since HTTP protocol allows immediate
access to the web in the WWW browser operation).

With respect to claims 19 and 20, referring to paragraph 46 of Simpson, the
reference describes that the communication link having the firewall represents a
plurality of networks including Internet and LAN (paragraph 122).

7. Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 1 03(a) as being unpatentable over
the combination of lida with Simpson as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of
Hopper et al. U.S. Patent No. 7,061,391 (hereinafter Hopper).

With respect to claim 5, the combination of lida and Simpson discloses the
image processing apparatus management system according to claim 1, wherein the
managing apparatus includes an informing unit (display for displaying the homepage in

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fig. 7) that informs an operator of contents of the report data (client machine displaying
the homepage informing the user of the status of network facsimile according to col. 5,
lines 4-14 & col. 6, lines 3-28).

The combination, however, does not explicitly disclose that the informing unit
informs the operator of an identification of the image processing apparatus that sent the
status report data.

Hopper, the same field of endeavor of informing the status report of the printing
apparatus (displaying the printer status in fig. 2), discloses a client computer including
an informing unit (monitor 34 in fig. 1 ) for informing the user of an identification of the
image processing apparatus (displaying the name of each printer in col. 3, lines 33-36
wherein the printer name represents the identification of the printer according to col. 11,
lines 17-19) that sent the status report data and the content of the report data
(displaying the printer toner status in fig. 2).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the informing unit of lida to display the identification of the image
processing apparatus that sent the status report data as taught by Hopper.

The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to describe where in the
printers are located by referring to the names (col. 3, lines 33-36 of Hopper).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine three references to obtain the
invention as specified in claim 5.

With respect to claim 6, the combination of lida and Simpson discloses the
image processing apparatus management system according to claim 1, wherein the

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managing apparatus includes a report outputting unit (display for displaying the
homepage in fig. 7) that outputs contents of the report data (client machine displaying
the homepage informing the user of the status of network facsimile according to col. 5,
lines 4-14 & col. 6, lines 3-28).

The combination, however, does not explicitly disclose that the report outputting
unit outputs the operator of an identification of the image processing apparatus that sent
the status report data.

Hopper, the same field of endeavor of outputting the status report of the printing
apparatus (displaying the printer status in fig. 2), discloses a client computer including a
report outputting unit (monitor 34 in fig. 1 ) for outputting the user of an identification of
the image processing apparatus (displaying the name of each printer in col. 3, lines 33-
36 wherein the printer name represents the identification of the printer according to col.
1 1 , lines 1 7-1 9) that sent the status report data and the content of the report data
(displaying the printer toner status in fig. 2).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the report outputting unit of lida to display the identification of the
image processing apparatus that sent the status report data as taught by Hopper.

The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to describe where in the
printers are located by referring to the names (col. 3, lines 33-36 of Hopper).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine three references to obtain the
invention as specified in claim 6.

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8. Claims 8, 9 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable
over the combination of lida and Simpson as applied to claim 7 above, and further in
view of Haines et al. U.S. Patent No. 7,043,523 (hereinafter Haines).

With respect to claim 8, the combination of lida and Simpson discloses the
image processing apparatus according to claim 7, but the combination dose not
explicitly disclose:

a remaining amount detecting unit that detects an amount of unused consumable
product in the image processing apparatus, wherein

if the amount detected is equal to or less than a predetermined value, the report
generating/transmitting unit generates the report data by including therein, information
about the consumable product.

a remaining amount detecting unit that detects an amount of unused consumable
product in the image processing apparatus (detecting either "toner low" or "toner out"
according to col. 7, lines 29-36), wherein

if the amount detected is equal to or less than a predetermined value (a
predetermined value that distinguishes the toner statuses between "toner low" or "toner
out" according to col. 7, lines 29-36. Note that this predetermined value must be in the
system in order to distinguish the different toner statues), a report

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generating/transmitting unit generates a status report data by including therein
(generating the toner status report and emailing the report to a user in col. 7, lines 29-
36), information about the consumable product (sending either "toner low" or "toner out"
notification in col. 7, lines 29-36).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the image processing apparatus of lida to include the remaining
amount detecting unit and modify the report generating/transmitting unit to generate
information about the consumable product based on the detected result as taught by
Haines.

The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to notify the user with
more accurate information about the consumable product, such as "toner low" or "toner
out" statuses (col. 7, lines 29-36 of Haines).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine three references to obtain the
invention as specified in claim 8.

With respect to claim 9, the combination of lida and Simpson discloses the
image processing apparatus according to claim 7, but the combination dose not
explicitly disclose:

a product replacement detecting unit that detects whether a product in the image
processing apparatus must be replaced, wherein

if the product replacement detecting unit detects that the product must be
replaced, the report generating/transmitting unit generates the report data by including
therein, information about the product to be replaced.

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a product replacement detecting unit that detects whether a product in the image
processing apparatus must be replaced (detecting the "toner out" condition in col. 7,
lines 34-36), wherein

if the product replacement detecting unit detects that the product must be
replaced (the "toner out" notification apparently indicates that the toner must be
replaced), a report generating/transmitting unit generates the report data by including
therein, information about the product to be replaced (notifying the "toner out" condition
in the email which indicates a new toner is needed according to col. 7, lines 34-36).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the image processing apparatus of lida to include the product
replacement detecting unit and modify the report generating/transmitting unit to
generate information about the product to be replaced based on the detected result as
taught by Haines.

The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to notify the user with
when to replace the toner (col. 8, lines 15-20 of Haines).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine three references to obtain the
invention as specified in claim 9.

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With respect to claim 14, lida discloses the image processing apparatus, further
comprising:

a utilization state acquiring unit that acquires state (acquiring/determining
whether the printer is in idling/operating/error state in col. 6, lines 7-20) information
about a utilization state of the image processing apparatus (col. 6, lines 7-20), wherein

the report generating/transmitting unit generates the report data by including the
state information therein, and transmits the report data to the managing apparatus
(sending the status HTML file in col. 5, lines 54-67).

lida, however, does not explicitly disclose that the report generating/transmitting
unit transmits the report data to the managing apparatus at a predetermined interval .

Haines, the same field of endeavor of the printing device generating a status
report and transmitting the report to the user (the printer 14 sending status notification to
the user in col. 4, lines 45-50), discloses a printing device (printer 14 in fig. 1)for
sending the status notification at a predetermined interval (sending the email status
notification at a regular interval according to col. 7, lines 3-14).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the report transmitting unit of lida to transmit the report data at a
predetermined interval as taught by Haines.

The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide the user with
the status report at a regular basis (col. 7, lines 3-14 of Haines).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine three references to obtain the
invention as specified in claim 14.

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9. Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable
over the combination of lida and Simpson as applied to claim 7 above, and further in
view of Zerza et al. U.S. Patent No. 7,149,697 (hereinafter Zerza).

With respect to claim 11, the combination of lida and Simpson discloses the
image processing apparatus according to claim 7, but it does not explicitly disclose an
inputting unit that inputs an instruction, wherein if the instruction is input, the report
generating/transmitting unit generates the report data by including the instruction
therein.

Zerza, the same field of endeavor the printer sending the report data to the user's
PC (sending the consumable order information to the user's PC in col. 3, lines 58-63),
discloses an image processing apparatus (printer in fig. 2) comprising an inputting unit
that inputs an instruction (user of the printer entering desired pricing for particular
consumables in col. 3, lines 43-48 & col. 4, lines 9-12), wherein if the instruction is input,
a report generating/transmitting unit generates a report data by including the instruction
therein (sending the consumable order information including the user input information
to the user's PC in col. 3, lines 58-63).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the image processing apparatus of lida to include an input unit and to
modify the report generating/transmitting unit of lida to generate the report data having
the instruction therein as taught by Zerza.

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The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method of
ordering a particular consumable at the image processing apparatus and to notify the
user's PC of the order that has been placed (col. 3, lines 42-63 of Zerza).

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine three references to obtain the
invention as specified in claim 1 1 .

With respect to claim 12, the combination of lida and Simpson discloses the
image processing apparatus according to claim 7, but it does not explicitly disclose an
order information inputting unit that inputs order information to order a consumable
product, wherein if the order information is input, the report generating/transmitting unit
generates the report data by including the order information therein.

Zerza, the same field of endeavor the printer sending the report data to the user's
PC (sending the consumable order information to the user's PC in col. 3, lines 58-63),
discloses an image processing apparatus (printer in fig. 2) comprising an order
information inputting unit that inputs order information to order a consumable product
(user of the printer entering desired pricing for particular consumables in col. 3, lines 43-
48 & col. 4, lines 9-12), wherein if the order information is input, a report
generating/transmitting unit generates a report data by including the order information
therein (sending the consumable order information including the user input information
to the user's PC in col. 3, lines 58-63).

At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
the art to modify the image processing apparatus of lida to include an order input unit

Application/Control Number: 10/803,938 Page 21

Art Unit: 2625

and to modify the report generating/transmitting unit of lida to generate the report data
having the order information therein as taught by Zerza.

Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine three references to obtain the
invention as specified in claim 12.

Allowable Subject Matter
10. Claims 3 and 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s)
under 35 U.S.C. 112, 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of
the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.

Application/Control Number: 10/803,938 Page 22

Art Unit: 2625

Conclusion

1 1 . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to CHAN S. PARK whose telephone number is (571)272-
7409. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8am-4:30pm.

If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, Edward Coles can be reached on (571) 272-7402. The fax phone number
for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.

Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the
Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for
published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR.
Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only.
For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should
you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic
Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a
USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information
system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.

/CHAN S PARK/
Examiner, Art Unit 2625

December 19, 2008

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